As we get set to bid 2016 a much-needed goodbye, it’s time for the myriad year-end parties. Dressed to the dime, as everyone sashays down an imaginary red-carpet, it’s not just the outfits that’ll make you stand out. The coolest, most fashionable accessory in town is the man on your arms. Or the woman holding your hand.

Single on New Year’s Eve? I suggest you don’t bother stepping out of your house!

Ladies & Gentlemen, welcome to the most unfriendly time for those not in a relationship. 

While there’s no good time to be single in the city, anyway, there’s certainly something extra miserable about the time right now. 

Couple-only dos at nightclubs, Man & Wife throwing parties for their friends and family and the dance floor flooded with twosomes in love, if you’re all by yourself, you can’t walk two steps without sticking out like a sore thumb. 

For single people, the biggest, most important new-year resolution involves finding a lover. 

All that empowered jargon you hear about ‘singles rocking it’, don’t let that get to you. The ones who proclaim the virtues of being single are mostly the first ones hooking up with someone right after. 

“Why aren’t you dating someone?“

If you haven’t been looking, you’ve committed a major crime. 

Didn’t Ranbir Kapoor set the diktat on his recent appearance on Koffee With Karan?

“Being single is boring. If you want space, join NASA!“

How’s that for a pun?

Haven’t we all faced this indirect peer-pressure at some time or the other?

Sitting at a wedding, going for a birthday party and sometimes, just going out one evening to a bar, if you’re not with a plus-one, you’re somehow never complete. 

Lazing at home on a Saturday night, scrolling through Instagram, what’s the one thing we’re hoping to avoid? That one shot of a friend enjoying a romantic dinner, giving you and countless other single people #CoupleGoals! 

It’s a reminder that you’re supposedly ‘missing’ out on something. 

What’s this something? Who cares about that! As long as you don’t have that one shot on your feed, don’t bother.

Such is life that even your friend’s harmless dinner-nights can now ruin your day! 

Time to ponder, isn’t it?

Why is such a lot of self-worth associated with being in a relationship? 

The last time I checked, being single had nothing to do with being a horrible person. 

You can choose to be single. Decide to focus on other things for some time. Or simply, end a relationship because it wasn’t giving you what you wanted. 

All this doesn’t make you a bad person. Nor does it label you undesirable. 

Your friends are dating, some are even married. You’ve got to up your game and find a partner, right?

Wrong!

Getting into a relationship shouldn’t be dictated by a feeling of inadequacy. You can’t be with someone just because you’re desperate to be with anyone. 

If you’re single, there’s a reason for it. You’re focused on work or busy pursuing an interest. Or simply, haven’t found the right person, yet. And that’s fine. 

Celebrate your singledom. It’s for a reason. A valid reason!

From asking friends to set us up to logging way too many hours on Tinder, we’re doing it all. Every single person we meet, we’re eager to see if they have what we want. 

Forget focusing on anything else, all our free time goes by in finding a certain someone. Even the things we’re supposed to do for ourselves, they’re done to impress a probable suitor. 

Hitting the gym is no longer about fitness but looking good to impress someone. Heading out on the weekends isn’t about having a good time but finding someone instead. 

As if finding your ‘other half’ supersedes every other thing you have to do in life!

It’s a desperation. This blatant need to have someone with us. Constantly. 

We’ve forgotten to enjoy our own company. Forgotten how to live for ourselves.

It isn’t love that we’re chasing but a certain social status. 

Taken is good. Single is bad. Unwanted, right?

What’s unwanted, actually, is a desperate individual on the lookout for someone. 

Desperation is never attractive. 

Let’s just take a moment to pause. 

Stop searching and think.

Do we know what we’re looking for? Or has mindlessly searching for someone made us forget exactly who we’re looking for?

I’d say, let’s stop seeking love and companionship.

The best things in life come to us when we’re least expecting them.

Embrace your single status. 

You’re not incomplete. You are your own person, meant to complete your own self. 

Anyone else who comes along is just the cherry on the cake!